AL Ego Trip
I'm never in the habit of checking my movie tickets after buying them. I know it's good practice but I never could remember. Most of the time this wouldn't have caused any problems. So far, there has only been one occasion where i got, by mistake, tickets for an earlier session of a movie than what I had intended. Imagine my surprise when I entered the theatre to find that the movie was halfway through.
Of course, the more astute amoing you would have have guessed by now where this entry is leading to. Yes, I had neglected, yet again, to check my tickets and the only reason I'm writing about it is because I got the wrong tickets. Instead of being treated to a healthy dosage of vintage Donnie Yen style and action, I had to ensure nearly 2 hours of sammo hung playing the bad guy in the crappy 《三国：见龙卸甲》.
Well, almost everyone else is a bad guy or simply inconsequential in this movie beside the main character. Why? Probably because the main character is played by Mr Andy Lau. Somehow, every movie with him in it seemed to turn out into an AL ego-trip. I thought he had reformed after The Warlords but no. It feels like watching 《墨攻》 all over again. Don't get me wrong. I'm sure many of you who knows me know that I'm a diehard fan of anything related to the Three Kingdoms (the era, not the movie). But the liberal artisitic licence taken by the scriptwriter and in the movie is simply unacceptable.
Friends familiar with the Annals of the Three Kingdoms (《三国志》) or the historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms (《三国演义》) will be in for a rude shock. Famous and important people during that time were made potrayed as baddies or made inconsequential beside 2 fictional characters and the main character Zhao Yun, probably in order not to steal the thunder from Zhao Yun, or rather, AL. Liu Bei and Cao Cao had a few cameo, as does the Five Tiger General, even though they played key roles in the events during Zhao Yun's life and in their interactions with him. Zhuge Liang was portrayed as an unscrupulous strategist. Historical details are blatantly twisted or ignored to turn Zhao Yun, or rather AL, into a tragic hero. Costumes and props take on a stylo-mylo japanese style, probably to make the movie increase the flashy factor, probably because its an AL ego trip.
There countless other things. Such as the ensemble cast assembled just to make brief cardboard appearances. The choice of Vaness Wu as Guan Xing. Maggie Q who looked like she stepped out from a Japanese bastardisation of the historical period among other things. Definitely a far cry from the gritty Warlords.
Moral of the story: check your tickets before leaving the counter! Lest you fumble into another AL ego trip.
Of course, the more astute amoing you would have have guessed by now where this entry is leading to. Yes, I had neglected, yet again, to check my tickets and the only reason I'm writing about it is because I got the wrong tickets. Instead of being treated to a healthy dosage of vintage Donnie Yen style and action, I had to ensure nearly 2 hours of sammo hung playing the bad guy in the crappy 《三国：见龙卸甲》.
Well, almost everyone else is a bad guy or simply inconsequential in this movie beside the main character. Why? Probably because the main character is played by Mr Andy Lau. Somehow, every movie with him in it seemed to turn out into an AL ego-trip. I thought he had reformed after The Warlords but no. It feels like watching 《墨攻》 all over again. Don't get me wrong. I'm sure many of you who knows me know that I'm a diehard fan of anything related to the Three Kingdoms (the era, not the movie). But the liberal artisitic licence taken by the scriptwriter and in the movie is simply unacceptable.
Friends familiar with the Annals of the Three Kingdoms (《三国志》) or the historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms (《三国演义》) will be in for a rude shock. Famous and important people during that time were made potrayed as baddies or made inconsequential beside 2 fictional characters and the main character Zhao Yun, probably in order not to steal the thunder from Zhao Yun, or rather, AL. Liu Bei and Cao Cao had a few cameo, as does the Five Tiger General, even though they played key roles in the events during Zhao Yun's life and in their interactions with him. Zhuge Liang was portrayed as an unscrupulous strategist. Historical details are blatantly twisted or ignored to turn Zhao Yun, or rather AL, into a tragic hero. Costumes and props take on a stylo-mylo japanese style, probably to make the movie increase the flashy factor, probably because its an AL ego trip.
There countless other things. Such as the ensemble cast assembled just to make brief cardboard appearances. The choice of Vaness Wu as Guan Xing. Maggie Q who looked like she stepped out from a Japanese bastardisation of the historical period among other things. Definitely a far cry from the gritty Warlords.
Moral of the story: check your tickets before leaving the counter! Lest you fumble into another AL ego trip.
Captain's orders by Parrots of the Currybean at 9:49 PM
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